The hits keep on rolling with Hasbro it would seem, as yet another figure from the Cantina, never made in the line before, debuted with this absolutely fantastic “Cantina Wave” at the Original Trilogy Collection’s end. Can you stand it people!? 3 Cantina guys in one wave! That’s nerd overload people!

And what’s so great about Dannik Jerriko (Cantina Encounter) that would make me rave about him? Well, if you talked to many collectors you’d not think a whole lot was too great about him, but not this reviewer… oh no. For once, you’re going to see your beloved reviewer go against the collecting grain and praise a figure many actually loathed. I will trash Hasbro for some terrible decision making on their part with this figure, so don’t worry. I’m still alive and kickin’. You honestly didn’t believe I’d go all mushy on you and just praise everything they did, did you?

Of course not!

Now, the questions that beg answering: What is great about Jerriko? What is not great about Jerriko? Well I have it all laid out for you now. Dannik is definitely one of my favorite characters in the Cantina, so this reviewer was pretty happy to see him get a figure. I’ll cut to the chase though, so you can see just what made the grade with Captain Bong-hit here, and what didn’t exactly enthuse the crowds.

PROS

Sculpt: This entire “Cantina Wave” has been pretty tough to find fault with, and Dannik’s sculpt is no different than Myo’s or Feltipern’s. The figure simply is incredibly accurate to his on-screen counterpart that you saw for, oh, say, 3 seconds or so. A lot of people didn’t give this guy enough credit as being “different” from human enough to warrant a figure, but I have to say that he came out quite nicely and Hasbro really made him look like something from another planet… Or from maybe a seedier part of anyone’s hometown?

The head’s dead-on accurate, with the messed up hair, the funky overbite, the gnarly nose from hell, and the sharp lines of his face that just make this figure pop out as if it were a real person. Nicely done, uh, Hasbro sculptor guy who made this… Take a bow.

The body isn’t bad at all either, sporting a nice funky outfit that looks like something your orthodontist maybe would wear. It’s tough to get a look at all of Dannik’s outfit in the movie, but from all stills I’ve seen, this is very close to the true costume, and has plenty of detail for added realism. The folds are all crisp and realistic, the figure’s got multiple belts, straps, and holsters sculpted to him that all are raised well. Dannik’s shirt folds over in the front with an odd shape to it and how it would “button”, which makes it look simply great (very “alien” and unearthly). Hasbro truly nailed the little details down on this guy, so again, a nod to whoever sculpted this figure because he seemed to really take his time to get total accuracy.

A feature I always like to point out as simply higher quality on a figure as well is when Hasbro sculpts take the time to sculpt trigger fingers as “separate” on the hands. A nice detail that adds something to the figure in a minor way, but not all the sculpts have that extra thought put into them. Dannik has this great feature on both hands technically (little different on his left hand), and it really just is a nice thing to have on any action figure, even though it’s been a minor addition over the years to most people.

Articulation: Can you knock a figure with 12 points of articulation? Well of course you can! But it’s kinda tough with Dannik here, as he’s got a nice balanced articulation across the board, he adopts a lot of great poses (both action ones and neutral), and that’s great because a guy that saw only a couple seconds of screen time used to get the shaft from Hasbro. Kudos to them, and it looks like articulation may be the wave of the future with the Star Wars brand (keep it coming, I say!).

Again, 12 points isn’t anything to blow your nose at, and when it allows your figure to run, stand, sit, kick someone in the rear, lean, lunge, and all the other cool poses you can get Dannik’s potentially dull figure into, well that’s great folks! I personally like leaving my Bong-Hit Dannik in his classic “I don’t give a crud who you just killed with that flashlight” pose at the bar. I could see this guy getting into some gunfights though.

Accessories: Dannik’s packed with lots of accessory goodness that some of it was just expected at this point, while some of it wasn’t exactly ever asked for or wanted after the fans got it. I’ll go a little further into that in the “CONS” portion of my review, but suffice it to say that some accessories would’ve been best left out of (and off of) this figure all together.

With that said, Dannik comes with lots of stuff, including 2 unique probe/tentacle thingie mabobs that stick to his face, a great bong/pipe that he can holster, a blaster pistol, and a stand.

The stand is what we’ve come to expect in the OTC line, as it’s just the rectangular “Star Wars” stand that interlocks with other stands of its ilk. The probe/tentacle things are the rather unwelcome accessory, though they both are unique items that secure snugly to the figure’s mug. I think Hasbro’s heart was in the right place with these things, but they maybe should’ve rethought the gesture.

Dannik’s blaster is just a reuse of the one that came with Ellors Madak back in the POTJ line. Not that I’m complaining. I think it’s good for Hasbro to reuse guns on figures who we never see draw a weapon in the movies. You’re getting something neat with a little less effort on Hasbro’s part, so that’s good for everyone.

The shining accessory to me however, is Dannik’s bong/pipe/hookah… Whatever you wanna call it. I love this thing. It holsters to Dannik’s right hip, the hose is flexible, and it’s actually a painted accessory that has a bit of detail itself… You really have to give Hasbro some credit for including it even, as pipe-smoking characters aren’t always looked upon highly, yet in about a year’s time we got two (I of course refer to Ultra Jabba as the other figure with a pipe). I think Hasbro went just a little further in this accessory to make it stand out, and that’s great for us. The accessory is a tiny thing, but it still really put a smile on my face that he came with this thing!

Paint/Deco: Once again, Hasbro showed that the Cantina Wave were all being treated well on all the major fronts. On Jerriko, he sports a great paintjob that has a lot of different colors, which can definitely change the way a figure comes out on the old cost sheet. Just eyeballing my sample, the basic outfit is molded in a single color (a grey-ish color), however he sports several shades of brown on his belts, holsters/straps, and his boots. There’s also a healthy wash on his boots to highlight the sculpt of his alien footwear.

The uniform he wears features a grey-green stripe down it similar to how Myo’s jumpsuit has a stripe prominent down his pant legs. Hasbro did take the time to paint Dannik’s belt-buckle a metallic gold color, as well as the 3 buttons on the lapel of his shirt as well.

Dannik’s head has a wash on it to highlight some of the sort of distorted features on his head’s sculpt, but Hasbro nicely painted up his teeth so they look just as funky as every production still of the character. Very nice! My sample’s eyes are also FANTASTICALLY painted. I see 3 layers of color there (the pupil, the “whites”, and the actual blue-green color of the eye itself), and nicely painted eyebrows that don’t appear to be off in any way. That’s pretty detailed work.

If I had a gripe about his paint, it’d be that my figure has a LITTLE bit of missed work on the hair, but really it’s a small spot and with all this other goodness dished out to us in the paint aps, I’m not really going to cite that as a negative at this point. I mean, even his hookah is painted so you have got to give credit where it’s due with that kind of stuff.

Features: Some features are great, some aren’t. Action features, for instance, are pretty bad features (generally), but there are two very little things that Hasbro did with Dannik Jerriko that I have to give them props for. They did this with Myo as well, and I think they deserve credit for this.

I speak of the holster which is functional, of course. But not only do I speak of ONE holster, but TWO on Dannik. Yes, two… One for his trusty sidearm on his left hip (complete with a safety strap that’s permanently undone even), and another one for his trusty pipe he carries with him everywhere he goes. That’s just great! I would’ve been content to put his pipe on the bar, but to have him holster it is just fantastic.

Both holsters work great, hold their accessory, and don’t warp their accessory (as some holsters have been known to bend a gun barrel or two). A definite thumbs up from me on this little, but appreciated detail.

CONS

Gaping Holes in Face: Now for the shot heard round the world… The single-biggest detractor from this figure, and yes it bugs me too. Hasbro decided to accommodate the “probe” accessories by drilling two ugly and very noticeable holes in Dannik’s cranium, right to either side of his nostrils, just above the corners of his mouth. They are definitely ugly holes, very easy to spot, and detract terribly from the figure when you remove his face tentacles. Not a pretty sight and definitely not something I was personally asking for on my Dannik Jerriko figure. Many people took these pretty hard and feel that it does ruin the figure. On one hand, I agree with them. On the other hand I am not as bothered by it as they are.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only gaping hole in his face either. At the corner of Dannik’s mouth on the right, they included another sizeable hole for his pipe’s mouthpiece to go into, and the pipe doesn’t really stick in his mouth all that well anyway. It would be passable if it were the only hole, but along side the other two it just looks terrible as well.

Dannik, unfortunately, proves that Hasbro can screw up a pretty great thing all too quickly. If it’s a 4-pack of Super Articulated Clones everyone wants to army build with, someone will make them about $40 per individual 4-pack unless you really order up in bulk. If it’s Dannik Jerriko, someone will stick probes on his face that leave giant craters. It’s a bummer.

What maybe made this “CON” sting a little more is the fact that these nose tentacles aren’t even from the movies! They’re “EU” Nonsense that says Dannik’s some brain-sucking vampire alien. I guess whoever whipped up his back-story felt he just wasn’t interesting looking enough to suit, so they had to add to him. We’re suffering from that addition now with a figure that looks funky without these giant boogers hanging off his face.

Dull Accessories: Yeah, sure, maybe I cited his accessories as pretty great earlier, and they are, but a neat little table accessory, or a “chair” accessory from the other area of the Cantina away from the bar area would’ve maybe made for a nice large accessory that Hasbro could’ve packed into the Cantina figures. Like 1 came with a table, the other two with chairs, or whatever. Just something to amp up everyone’s Cantina setups.

His pipe, gun, and other stuff are fun though, but it’s just that Dannik’s stand would’ve gladly have been given up for the above mentioned bar furniture. It could have just been something to make him a little more interesting, like the Outlander Wave of figures were with their bar sections and tables/stools. A minor quibble to an otherwise good figure though.

OVERALL

How do you feel? Gaping holes suck, and so does Jerriko. Or do you feel that he’s ok even with the holes? Myself, I’m torn. Part of me knows I’m able to fix this, if I really want to, but on the other hand I shouldn’t have to make a permanent fix to these goofy holes in Jerriko’s face. I think people have a pretty legit gripe with the nose tentacles being a poor idea on Hasbro’s part but again I think that they were thinking of fans when they did it as well.

It still knocks Dannik Jerriko down on the Cantina Wave’s list to the 3rd place. He’s just not as nice as the other two are now in my eyes. He’ll sit in my Cantina proudly though, as Dannik was actually my #1 choice for a figure from the Cantina. Now I’m down to just wanting Hem Dazon and Bom Vimdin really (I’m not a huge Tonnika Sisters fan, but I’ll take them as well).

Hopefully you guys pick up Dannik, even with his crater-face, and appreciate the fine qualities he does have, such as the articulation and sculpt. He’s one I’m happy enough to own, and being 3rd in a list of winners is still a pretty good achievement. I’ll be living with the holes, but I’m feeling the pain of all those who don’t care for them as well. I still say pick up a Dannik Jerriko if you haven’t already. He’s good enough to earn a spot at your bar, trust me!